Volunteer Development Mentor

What will you be doing?

The Young Carers Development Trust (YCDT) was created to provide a support program for exceptional individual Young Carers (YCs), aiming to provide them with educational, financial and mentoring support to enable them to achieve their full potential. Young Carers develop a sense of responsibility and maturity beyond their ages as a result of the circumstances they find themselves in. However, they rarely fulfil their educational potential because of the conflict between their family responsibilities and their education. Often, they lack encouragement or are unable to study due to their caring commitments. The YCDT Award is designed to help Young Carers achieve their educational potential through:

The provision of financial support for specific items (such as for extra coaching, course or tuition fees, important pieces of equipment) The support of individual mentors as appropriate, available both locally and nationally Webinars on topics related to being a young carer An annual Young Adult Carer (YAC) Aspirations Conference Events and activities to network with peers and have a break from caring

We are seeking to engage individuals as Development Mentors who will support our Young Carers and build a personal relationship, enabling them to achieve a potential beyond their own expectations and assist them to achieve their personal and career goals. Our Development Mentors will meet with their young carer and jointly prepare a development plan to realise these goals, including costing for any anticipated expenses and resources.   It is expected that the time commitment, face to face or by telephone, with Young Carers would be about 4 hours per month. You would also be asked to communicate with, and sometimes attend Trustee meetings, supervision and training sessions as appropriate and maintain appropriate records. All candidates will be DBS checked.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for someone with good interpersonal skills and the ability to develop a strong, health relationship with their mentee. It is an expectation that you would undergo a YCDT induction and be DBS checked and attend 2 training sessions a year via Zoom and 1 in-person event. The Development Mentor will need to be sensitive to the particular issues and challenges that our Young Carers face, and must have the ability to build a personal trusting relationship with them, their family and the relevant support groups. Experience of working with Carers, and in related community support groups would be an advantage but experience and skills gained in a pastoral, professional or educational role may be viewed as equally relevant. 

What difference will you make?

Your input as a mentor can make a real difference to the life of the young carer you support, helping them to identify educational and career pathways they may not have even previously considered. To date, as a result of the support our young carers have received from YCDT, there has been an overage overall improvement in their grade s of 2.6, 88% have gone onto university and 12% into meaningful employment. Your time could help contribute to these outcomes for our next cohort of young carers.